The Shamrock Genealogist

Today is Memorial Day here in the United States. It is a day to commemorate those who were killed in action and who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, with the first national observance on May 30, 1890, to honor the Union soldiers who died during the Civil War. Other states had observed prior to 1890, with both Union and Confederate graves decorated. In 1968 Congress standardized the day it was observed to the last Monday in May and renamed it more broadly to Memorial Day. I've wanted to put together a roll of relatives in my family tree who I honor on Memorial Day. I use the tag feature on Ancestry.com to identify "Killed in Action" or "Died in Service". I have highlighted some in individual blog posts. Horace Joseph (age 26) - 2nd cousin 1x removed - Killed in action June 6, 1944 (D-Day) during World War II. He served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooped with the 307th Airforc...

 I recently returned from a work trip to Washington, D.C., where we led 27 genealogists on a research tour, which included the National Archives (Archives I) and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library. It was an amazing week! It has been almost 20 years since I visited the DC area to visit the Smithsonian museums. I pulled a few files to review at the National Archives, which I will put towards existing and new lectures. Having the experience of doing the research onsite at the National Archives and the DAR Library will help me prepare other genealogists for this onsite work. I also left with a new project which I will be working on (more details to come in the future).  I did get some tourism in and went to many different sites, including the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War I Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Air and Space ...

It is a time to celebrate our Irish heritage. I will be making the Irish soda bread scones today. You can learn about this family tradition and make your own:  https://www.theshamrockgenealogist.com/2017/03/irish-soda-bread-family-recipe-passed.html. There will be corned beef, and bangers and mash for dinner tonight.  I recently participated in a few podcasts where I talked about Irish genealogy. Enjoy!  Rediscovering Latinidad - We also talked about if Christopher Columbus was Jewish, the "Black Irish", Celtic, and Jewish genealogy. https://www.spreaker.com/episode/los-misterios-del-adn-los-celtiberos-los-irlandeses-negros-y-fue-cristobal-colon-un-judio--64883119 Irish Radio Canada - I discuss the various Irish settlements in Canada pre-and post Famine. This includes information from my recent talk at RootsTech  https://irishradio.ca/podcast/?name=20250316a1.mp3  How are you spending St. Patrick's Day (if you celebrate)?

I am very delayed with my recap of RootsTech 2 and 3. That's just how much fun I was having! Day 2 My day started bright and early with my "Using Tax Records in My Family History Research" presentation. I had over 150 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed attendees hearing all about the U.S. tax system through history and different examples of records.  At 9:30 I attended the Innovation and Tech Forum where I heard presentations from Stephen Nielsen of Adobe Photoshop, Uri Gonen of MyHeritage, Laryn Brown of Storied, Paul Allen of Soar.com,  Charlie Greene of Remento, and Hunter Cannon of Ancestry. The presentations showed the many uses of AI (artificial intelligence) to build family trees, describe photographs, transcribe documentation (including recipes), and more. I was very excited about MyHeritage's Cousin Finder feature. It's like viewing a DNA match list but without the DNA - I can see all of the myHeritage users that I share a common ancestor with. Some of these I ...

The first day of RootsTech 2025 is in the can. And what a day it was!  I started the day off bright and early with a breakfast from Storied. We learned about the new features for NewspaperArchive, new collections coming soon, and the features of StoryBook Studio. Attendees can receive a free product activation code at their booth; virtual attendees receive a 50% discount code with promo code ROOTSBOOK.   You may be wondering why lobsters and AI is in my sub-title. The opening session included a short talk by the President and CEO of FamilySearch, Steve Rockwood. He related a story about how one of his direct paternal ancestors thought of raising lobsters and other seafood in the Great Salt Lake. It didn't go well but imagine if it did. We would be sitting around eating Rockwood lobster rolls. He likened his ancestor's lobster business as being a type of genealogical prize, finding your lobster in the sea of records. A lobster came down from a drone, and then several stre...

I am bringing this blog out of the "cemetery". It's almost time for RootsTech 2025, which is held annually in Salt Lake City, Utah. This event runs from Thursday, March 6th through 8th, and includes hundreds of classes, vendors, keynote speakers, and more! It's my favorite genealogy conference and what pushed me to become a professional genealogist when I first attended in person in 2017.  Classes There are so many different types of classes that you can choose from within the same time block. It's best to review via the mobile app for any class updates (including room changes, cancellations, etc.). You can also review a list of classes via the website at  https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/schedule .   Yours truly is giving two in-person classes and a broadcast webinar (details below - all times are in Mountain Time) Escaping the Famine: Exploring Irish Settlements in Canada Thursday, March 6th at 3:00 PM - online only on www.rootstech.org (it should be r...